Don’t miss Neolithic Cannibals: Deep Listening to the Unheard!
Neolithic Cannibals is a socially engaged sound art project and exhibition running as part of the Brighton Festival. It was created by young people from Whitehawk and East Brighton and local sound artist Simon James, with the support of ASE archaeologist Jon Sygrave. The exhibition mixes archaeology, psycho-geography, sound art, and activism to transport audiences to a place where imaginative and fantastical sounds will invite deep listening to an area that can often be considered hidden and unheard.
“When Cannibals lived in Brighton”?*
The project takes inspiration from Whitehawk Neolithic Camp, a five-and-a-half-thousand year old monument on Whitehawk Hill. It has been guided by the archaeological insight of Archaeology South-East’s Jon Sygrave and Brighton Museums’ Dan Robertson. Historical and contemporary artefacts support the exhibition’s soundscape, providing context, texture and colour.
Archaeologists have not always been positive about discoveries at Whitehawk. During excavations in the 1930s, the archaeologist Cecil Curwen gave the press a hasty and rather visceral appraisal of early Whitehawk residents’ dietary habits. He suggested parts of charred human skulls recovered from Whitehawk excavations were evidence of cannibalism, and that Whitehawk’s early residents were living amongst “filthy litter” in squalid conditions (Curwen 1934, 76, 112; Sygrave 2016).
Later archaeologists have contested his narrative. The exhibition’s artist Simon James – who was born and raised in Whitehawk – has used Curwen’s vitriolic interpretations to inspire the name Neolithic Cannibals. He said “The language is similar to the kinds of rubbish usually aimed at communities such as Whitehawk by those in privileged positions. Neolithic Cannibals sounded like it could be a band name, or a sound hunting gang and I liked the idea of taking back the negative language and infusing it with listening power”.
“Curious discoveries at Whitehawk”*
Through a series of workshops young people from Whitehawk have listened to and sounded the contemporary environment of East Brighton using the Whitehawk Hill Neolithic Camp. Their participation was a vital part of this Class Divide production. Class Divide are a grassroots campaign drawing attention to the deeply unjust educational attainment gap in Whitehawk, Manor Farm and Bristol Estate in Brighton and Hove. They are working towards creating a more equal education system in Brighton and nationally.
Sound was a crucial element of the original discovery of the camp in 1929 as archaeologists used a geophysical listening technique known as Bosing. Simon James says “Discovering that Whitehawk Neolithic Camp’s early exploration used sound and listening was an unexpected and exciting revelation. The Bosing Tool is an early geophysical instrument for percussing/hitting the ground to determine whether the material beneath is undisturbed or loose – the former giving a sound like a ’thud’ and the latter resembling a ’thoomp’. For me the reconstruction in the gallery is a physical symbol of deep listening. It stands as a reminder and invitation for us all to listen more deeply and to extend our listening to include the hidden and unheard”.
The young artists used the idea of Bosing as a symbolic focal point and inspiration for their sonic explorations. They recorded the sounds around them in Whitehawk, used synthesisers, and performed together as a group to create the soundscape of Neolithic Cannibals. One of the artists said they “liked the recording outside, and rustling grass and clanging gates. And recording textures. Mud squelching. That was my favourite part.” Another said they “loved being loud in the Whitehawk foot tunnel”!
Come and listen to Neolithic Cannibals!
The Neolithic Cannibals exhibition at Lighthouse recreates the Neolithic Camp - a place of communion, celebration and ritual, as a compassionate listening space inviting audiences to discover Whitehawk’s richness, joy, playfulness and hope, empowering local voices through rarely explored sonic expressions.
The project invites Brighton to listen - to step in to the centre of the gallery, within the concentric circles of the Neolithic Camp, to hear sounds recorded and created by young artists from over the hill. The fantastical and imaginative, the noisy, chaotic and playful.
Simon James says “We also invite you to extend that listening to communities that are unheard, hidden, even neglected, a bit like the almost invisible remains of the Neolithic camp that sits on the hill that hides Whitehawk from the rest of the city”.
ASE’s Jon Sygrave says “What a great project, campaign and installation, please go and see it if you can. It’s been a real pleasure to work with Neolithic Cannibals, to talk about Brighton’s amazing prehistory and dispel some inherent bias which coloured interpretation of ancient peoples, and hear how this still, sadly, impacts the less privileged in society today”.
Audiences will leave Neolithic Cannibals with a deeper appreciation for empathetic listening, and consider the power of collective effort and the part we all play in addressing complex and current social issues.
Neolithic Cannibals runs from Wednesday until Sunday 19th May at the Lighthouse project space, Brighton. It is open from 12-5pm.
Bibliography
Curwen, E C, 1934 Excavations in Whitehawk Neolithic Camp, Brighton, 1932-33; Antiq. J. 14. 99-133
Sygrave, J, 2016 A report on the outcomes of the Whitehawk community archaeology project, including a post-excavation assessment and updated project design.
*“When Cannibals lived in Brighton: Curious discoveries at Whitehawk” was the Brighton Herald headline on 16 December 1933. The discoveries in question had been found just days before, evidencing Curwen’s rather hasty interpretations.